


Something Wicked, Something Wonderful

by LittleWriterWitch



Category: Hannibal (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Background Relationships, Cannibalism, Dark, Eventual Smut, Ghost Hannibal, M/M, Medium Will Graham, Slow Build
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-08
Updated: 2015-11-08
Packaged: 2018-04-30 17:31:22
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,216
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5172977
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LittleWriterWitch/pseuds/LittleWriterWitch
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Will found an ad for a vacancy on Craigslist:</p><div class="center">
  <p><br/><b><i>Tenants Wanted:</i></b> Must be working adult. Must have no criminal record. Please, no hippies.</p>
</div>At first glance, he did not find the building all that interesting.<p>He would soon enough.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Something Wicked, Something Wonderful

**Author's Note:**

> This was inspired by a prompt I saw a while ago. (I had actually uploaded this a long time ago here, but my account has been deleted since then.)
> 
> Prompt:  
>  _Warnings for suicide, murder and horror elements._  
>  The apartment building Will lives in is notorious for stories of unusual deaths. People cutting in the bathrooms, falling or jumping out of windows, getting crushed, and other 'accidental' or 'suicidal' deaths that would be coincidence if they didn't keep happening in the same building.  
> That's why rent is so cheap, and why Will moves in. He's not skeptic, but not entirely afraid of the alleged cannibal spirit haunting the premises when he's already having nightmares anyway. What's one more?  
> When he meets one of the building's long time residents, he doesn't realize until it's too late that he's caught the attention of Hannibal the Cannibal Lecter, who died in the building long ago during a police raid.  
> +1 for other long time residents who stay because they're not rude (Bedelia, Beverly, Jimmy and Brian) and landlord Jack. Maybe Bedelia even has conversations with Hannibal sometimes. Maybe Beverly was curious about the paranormal aspect, but when she met Hannibal, she wasn't rude, and she learned to be respectful so as not to be targeted. Maybe Jimmy and Brian are simply uninterested in bothering Hannibal, so he doesn't bother them.  
> +100 for paranormal enthusiasts renting the place frequently and annoying the hell out of Hannibal, so he either chases them away, or for the rude ones, kills them as a warning to any other ghost chasing nuisances  
> +10000 for the noncon/dubcon portion where Hannibal keeps going into Will's room and molesting him in his sleep, in the shower (big bonus for invisible groping or sex
> 
> I plan to have updates every Sunday for this work.

You will not hear much about the Ravenstag Apartment Complex nowadays. There are no articles about the beautiful, antique building with its luxuriously outdated décor and _lovely_ tenants.

Opened in the winter of 1979, the Ravenstag had flourished under the ever-watchful eye of its owner and creator, Dr. Hannibal Lecter, The good doctor was a hit with Baltimore’s elite, bringing in men and women from all professions to stay in his building. Rooms were soon filled to capacity, nearly overflowing with people who were all too happy to be in the presence of such a gracious host as Dr. Lecter.

Within the complex, life was _good_ —as good as the wealthy could get, They conversed. They had parties. They drank (perhaps a bit too much). Even the good doctor would partake in dinner parties, often hosting Friday night events that were hailed as near-heavenly. _Laissez les bons temps rouler_ , as they say in New Orleans.

Three months after opening, the first disappearance occurred, the divorce lawyer Christopher Purnell never returning home after leaving for work one morning. A rather loud and offensive man with an alcohol problem and a penchant for prostitutes, the lack of concern or Mr. Purnell’s absence is easy to understand. Some say that he ran off with one of the local hussies, some say he just got tired and left his wife and daughter behind—either way, in the end, he only served as the latest piece of gossip around the Ravenstag.

The next disappearance did not raise too many eyebrows—a vapid and narcissistic model who threw her card at anyone who would look at her twice—or the one after that—a misanthrope of a dentist who held his opinion so high that one would think he believed himself to be God. (If anything, the occupants were glad to having being rid of such _undesirables_ from the building, even if they were not willing to admit it.)

There was one incident, however, that hit home for the residents of Ravenstag.

Late one December evening, a small group of renters arrived at Dr. Lecter’s door for a prescheduled dinner party. After several failed attempts of trying to get the doctor’s attention and a somewhat _suspicious_ smell filling the hallway, the locked door was busted down by one worried tenant. What was to be found was certainly no dinner party.

Hannibal Lecter’s death was written up as a homicide, the worst murder to ever happen in Baltimore at the time. Yet, the cause of death was much harder to determine. While it was easiest to say to that he had been beaten to death, the autopsy could not make the distinction on whether it was the blunt force trauma or the blood loss that had killed him, and there was plenty of both.

The killer was never found, though not due to the police’s lack of trying. Rather, it was a lack of evidence to find a killer. They scoured the apartment ceiling to floor, but found nothing that would lead them to the murderer of Dr. Lecter.

What they _did_ find was much more horrifying.

Not much had been known about Dr. Lecter prior to his death. He was often a loner by choice, only allowing those he chose to venture into his domain. He was indeed a peculiar man, but his company was very much enjoyed by those around him—ever polite, such a gentleman he had been to his guests.

If only they had known what—or, rather, _who_ —they were eating at the doctor’s table.

Needlessly to say, Mr. Purnell’s missing person’s case was switched over to a homicide when the police found his body (more so, what was left of it: a frozen liver, kidney, and choice cuts of meat taken from his body). Similarly, the truth was found out about the missing model, the dentist, and a number of other cases that had plagued the Baltimore Police Department.

The inhabitants of the Ravenstag were appalled by this discovery. How many times had they journeyed into the den of a lion only to eat one of their own? How many days did they laugh and drink and gossip about the very men whose meat was settling in their stomachs?

The numbers in the Ravenstag plummeted faster than the New York Stock Exchange in the Crash of 1929. The doors closed on New Year’s Eve of 1980, only a year after opening, only two months after the truth about the _good_ doctor came out into the open and Hannibal Lecter was given the soon-to-be infamous nickname, the “Chesapeake Ripper.”

The Ravenstag remained closed for over a decade, until in 1992 when a ruined psychiatrist by the name of Frederick Chilton took interest in the building. After a year of renovations, the apartment building was open once more to the public. While the rent was too high and the service subpar compared to when it had been under Dr. Lecter’s management, people still flocked to get a room. Some were wary of living in the same complex where the Chesapeake Ripper had chosen his victims. But that was just _nonsense_ —the man was dead and gone.

Management changed over almost two years after the reopening to the couple of Jack and Bella Crawford when an “unfortunate accident” took place with Dr. Chilton. Perhaps “accident” is not the best word—actually, an old patient who lived in the lower levels of the building was said to have had a mental breakdown and decided to perform surgery on the doctor by removing some of his not-so-important organs.

The Crawford’s continue to run the Ravenstag to this very day, insisting upon pleasant management and no rudeness amongst the residence. It is no longer in the papers, only ever once or twice in these recent years for the uncommonly high rates of suicides or accidental deaths. Since its reopening, the building has maintained the highest death rate of any living establishment in Baltimore.

And yet, somehow, it still manages to draw in tenants like flies to honey. Some are thrill seekers, wannabe Ghost Busters who rent rooms in an attempt at contacting the ghost of the notorious Chesapeake Ripper. One such as these is the authoress of _paranormaltattler.com_ , Freddie Lounds in 2A—many of these people do not last longer than two months, but Ms. Lounds is pertinacious. Some simply like the quiet and the old world feel, like Dr. Bedelia du Maurier in room 4D. Some are like the self-deemed “sassy science team” of Beverly Katz, Brian Zeller, and Jimmy Price in 3B who just want a new start…

And then there are those like Will Graham. Albeit, there are not that many people… well, there is only _one_ Will Graham in the Ravenstag.

Will found an ad for a vacancy on Craigslist:

 **_Tenants Wanted_ ** _Must be working adult. Must have no criminal record. Please, no hippies._

The rent was low, shockingly so for a two-bedroom apartment in the middle of high-end Baltimore. He contacted Jack Crawford, and the latter was somewhat willing to accommodate the cop-turned-professor. Within the very week, Will was at the door to the Ravenstag, moving boxes and dog in hand.

At first glance, he did not find the building all that interesting.

He would soon enough.


End file.
